SOTUS
So now it's time to step back into what I consider a more standard BL drama - the Thai series SOTUS.
Summary: Handsome intelligent Kongpop begins his freshman year at a university, majoring in Engineering. A clan of Engineering seniors soon enforces a strict oppressive regime of hazing, ritualised gatherings and discipline on the new students. The main hazer Arthit is particularly brutal. Kongpop, horrified by the pointless cruelty, rebels against the seniors and vocally opposes them at their gatherings, sometimes even mocking them. This incenses Arthit, who singles Kongpop out for ongoing humiliation and punishment. Kongpop soon sees the point of the hazing and what the senior hazers are trying to achieve. As his rebellious behaviour mellows, he also begins to reconsider his feelings towards Arthit. He delivers sweet compliments to Arthit very casually, and which soon increase and intensify. Arthit is mortified and pushes Kongpop away repeatedly. Can Kongpop convince Arthit that he has genuine feelings for him, or will his persistence alienate Arthit forever?
I have to say I really disliked this series when I first started watching it. After a few episodes of seeing some really despicable hazing and humiliation, I decided I couldn't watch it anymore. I only came back to it a few days later, after reading online how loved this series is by so many people. Some people are even calling it "the best Thai BL series ever". I thought, "There must be something I'm missing about it that people love, or else the future episodes will get better". So I went back to it and watched the entire first series. I'm glad I did, because it definitely does improve as the story progresses. The hazing, however, is still a massive issue for me, and detracts from the enjoyment to be found in the initial episodes. Does this sort of thing really happen at Thai universities? It even appears to be sanctioned by the Dean and the university, as long as it doesn't go too far. Nothing can justify this sort of behaviour; it's destructive and can end up killing people. The show makes an effort to give some purpose and meaning to the hazing - most importantly by showing that Kongpop eventually has a change of heart and considers it to be worthwhile and valuable - but I remain totally unconvinced. It almost destroyed any sort of pleasure I was able to find in the remainder of the series. Almost!
Most of the latter part of the first series thankfully focuses on Kongpop's ongoing attempts to convince Arthit of his love. These attempts are totally adorable without being overly cloying - a combination of being super-sweet to Arthit, gently mocking him, giving him presents or food (pink milk!), taking care of him when he's ill or in trouble. And all the while, Kongpop looks at him with his radiant smile and an enraptured puppy-dog stare that would melt the iciest heart. It's so romantic and innocent that any initial sense that he's overdoing it wears off very quickly. Arthit can run but he can't hide!! Some of the attempts at making the characters jealous fall flat - the scenes concerning the pretty university 'Star' Prae in particular just don't work - but overall this section of the series succeeds in convincing us that love is blooming.
There's plenty of other fun and happiness to be found in this series, once the worst of the hazing is out of the way. The clan of seniors eventually develop individual personalities, and it's soon hard to resist them too. Bright is a hilarious clown, full of self-deprecation. Prem's savage callousness as a hazer morphs into an almost lovestruck affection for one of the freshman Wat (I keenly hope to see that relationship expanded further in series 2). Knot becomes a close trusted friend to Arthit. Kongpop's group of freshmen friends supply some gentle comic relief and romantic subplots. One of the senior mentors, the very beautiful and intelligent Ple, gives Kongpop invaluable advice and support which helps him mature. There are a lot of characters in this series, and there was a real danger some of them would just fade into the background by being poorly developed. But the writers give almost all of them plenty of room to breathe in the final stages of series 1, and they generally succeed. You're invested in all of them doing well and finding their own individual happiness.
The final episodes have a real emotional impact. There's a couple of scenes which are beautifully conceived - one at a wedding, another at a rooftop party. The romantic haze is turned up to the maximum, all the characters come together and play their part, and everyone in the audience watching is the winner. There's also an 'epilogue' final episode that reveals a simple but touching explanation for Kongpop's affection for Arthit.
Some of this great and very entertaining TV is then, for me, spoilt by how the writers deal with Kongpop's sexuality. When his longtime friend M chastises him for not telling him sooner that he likes men, Kongpop frankly tells him that he doesn't like men. When M is justifiably confused by this, Kong responds "If he isn't P'Arthit, then I don't like him." This is a BL trope that I have serious reservations about. On the face of it, the show is telling us that Kongpop is straight, he just happened to fall in love with a man. If what the show means here is that sexuality and sexual attraction are fluid concepts, then I'm all on board. However what I'm seeing here - and in my BL viewing experience more generally - doesn't suggest that this is the case. I am not convinced that Asian BL is interested in this idea of fluidity of sexual preference and gender at all. (Look at the way it deals with any effeminate, flamboyant gay characters. Just awful.) Its focus is entirely on the far more titillating idea that ostensibly straight young men could suddenly love and lust after each other. It presents us with the contradiction of a story contained in a hygenic bubble of gay love and male romantic attachment that, deliberately and perversely, has nothing to do with homosexuality. It feels like children playing Doctors and Nurses; there's a strong sense of curiosity about sexuality but it's entirely unformed and ungrounded in adult experience. It's immature and therefore pointless, like an infatuation. As such, it still needs to be cherished and revered, but as something cute, child-like and inoffensively pretty. You might gain some experience from it, but it is ultimately worthless and disposable, like some Hello Kitty trinket. It's not Love, it's just a kid's caricature of Love. It's Boys Love.
My disappointment with SOTUS taking this direction didn't diminish my overall enjoyment of the final episodes, it just tempered it. I'm definitely looking forward to the next series to see where our heroes are heading, as well as the other characters.
Just please please PLEASE deal with the hazing better!
Rating: 12 out of 20. Worth watching if you can tolerate the worst of the hazing in the first few episodes.
Ending: Romantically happy.
Summary: Handsome intelligent Kongpop begins his freshman year at a university, majoring in Engineering. A clan of Engineering seniors soon enforces a strict oppressive regime of hazing, ritualised gatherings and discipline on the new students. The main hazer Arthit is particularly brutal. Kongpop, horrified by the pointless cruelty, rebels against the seniors and vocally opposes them at their gatherings, sometimes even mocking them. This incenses Arthit, who singles Kongpop out for ongoing humiliation and punishment. Kongpop soon sees the point of the hazing and what the senior hazers are trying to achieve. As his rebellious behaviour mellows, he also begins to reconsider his feelings towards Arthit. He delivers sweet compliments to Arthit very casually, and which soon increase and intensify. Arthit is mortified and pushes Kongpop away repeatedly. Can Kongpop convince Arthit that he has genuine feelings for him, or will his persistence alienate Arthit forever?
I have to say I really disliked this series when I first started watching it. After a few episodes of seeing some really despicable hazing and humiliation, I decided I couldn't watch it anymore. I only came back to it a few days later, after reading online how loved this series is by so many people. Some people are even calling it "the best Thai BL series ever". I thought, "There must be something I'm missing about it that people love, or else the future episodes will get better". So I went back to it and watched the entire first series. I'm glad I did, because it definitely does improve as the story progresses. The hazing, however, is still a massive issue for me, and detracts from the enjoyment to be found in the initial episodes. Does this sort of thing really happen at Thai universities? It even appears to be sanctioned by the Dean and the university, as long as it doesn't go too far. Nothing can justify this sort of behaviour; it's destructive and can end up killing people. The show makes an effort to give some purpose and meaning to the hazing - most importantly by showing that Kongpop eventually has a change of heart and considers it to be worthwhile and valuable - but I remain totally unconvinced. It almost destroyed any sort of pleasure I was able to find in the remainder of the series. Almost!
Most of the latter part of the first series thankfully focuses on Kongpop's ongoing attempts to convince Arthit of his love. These attempts are totally adorable without being overly cloying - a combination of being super-sweet to Arthit, gently mocking him, giving him presents or food (pink milk!), taking care of him when he's ill or in trouble. And all the while, Kongpop looks at him with his radiant smile and an enraptured puppy-dog stare that would melt the iciest heart. It's so romantic and innocent that any initial sense that he's overdoing it wears off very quickly. Arthit can run but he can't hide!! Some of the attempts at making the characters jealous fall flat - the scenes concerning the pretty university 'Star' Prae in particular just don't work - but overall this section of the series succeeds in convincing us that love is blooming.
There's plenty of other fun and happiness to be found in this series, once the worst of the hazing is out of the way. The clan of seniors eventually develop individual personalities, and it's soon hard to resist them too. Bright is a hilarious clown, full of self-deprecation. Prem's savage callousness as a hazer morphs into an almost lovestruck affection for one of the freshman Wat (I keenly hope to see that relationship expanded further in series 2). Knot becomes a close trusted friend to Arthit. Kongpop's group of freshmen friends supply some gentle comic relief and romantic subplots. One of the senior mentors, the very beautiful and intelligent Ple, gives Kongpop invaluable advice and support which helps him mature. There are a lot of characters in this series, and there was a real danger some of them would just fade into the background by being poorly developed. But the writers give almost all of them plenty of room to breathe in the final stages of series 1, and they generally succeed. You're invested in all of them doing well and finding their own individual happiness.
The final episodes have a real emotional impact. There's a couple of scenes which are beautifully conceived - one at a wedding, another at a rooftop party. The romantic haze is turned up to the maximum, all the characters come together and play their part, and everyone in the audience watching is the winner. There's also an 'epilogue' final episode that reveals a simple but touching explanation for Kongpop's affection for Arthit.
Some of this great and very entertaining TV is then, for me, spoilt by how the writers deal with Kongpop's sexuality. When his longtime friend M chastises him for not telling him sooner that he likes men, Kongpop frankly tells him that he doesn't like men. When M is justifiably confused by this, Kong responds "If he isn't P'Arthit, then I don't like him." This is a BL trope that I have serious reservations about. On the face of it, the show is telling us that Kongpop is straight, he just happened to fall in love with a man. If what the show means here is that sexuality and sexual attraction are fluid concepts, then I'm all on board. However what I'm seeing here - and in my BL viewing experience more generally - doesn't suggest that this is the case. I am not convinced that Asian BL is interested in this idea of fluidity of sexual preference and gender at all. (Look at the way it deals with any effeminate, flamboyant gay characters. Just awful.) Its focus is entirely on the far more titillating idea that ostensibly straight young men could suddenly love and lust after each other. It presents us with the contradiction of a story contained in a hygenic bubble of gay love and male romantic attachment that, deliberately and perversely, has nothing to do with homosexuality. It feels like children playing Doctors and Nurses; there's a strong sense of curiosity about sexuality but it's entirely unformed and ungrounded in adult experience. It's immature and therefore pointless, like an infatuation. As such, it still needs to be cherished and revered, but as something cute, child-like and inoffensively pretty. You might gain some experience from it, but it is ultimately worthless and disposable, like some Hello Kitty trinket. It's not Love, it's just a kid's caricature of Love. It's Boys Love.
My disappointment with SOTUS taking this direction didn't diminish my overall enjoyment of the final episodes, it just tempered it. I'm definitely looking forward to the next series to see where our heroes are heading, as well as the other characters.
Just please please PLEASE deal with the hazing better!
Rating: 12 out of 20. Worth watching if you can tolerate the worst of the hazing in the first few episodes.
Ending: Romantically happy.
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